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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on June 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik via Getty Images)
Hudson Senior Fellow David Satter is known in Russia for having written that the apartment bombings in 1999, which were blamed on Chechens and brought Putin to power, were actually carried out by the Russian FSB security police.
In his new book, __The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin__, Satter tells the story of the apartment bombings, Boris Yeltsin’s role presiding over the criminalization of Russia, and Putin’s rise to power. As the threat represented by Russia becomes increasingly clear, Satter’s description of where Russia is and how it got there will be of vital interest to anyone concerned about the dangers facing the world today.
On May 20, Kevin Klose, the former director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Carl Gershman, the head of the National Endowment for Democracy; and Robert Amsterdam, a prominent international lawyer, joined Satter to discuss the book. Charles Davidson, executive director of Hudson's Kleptocracy Initiative, moderated the conversation.
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